DVD Review: SHERLOCK HOLMES

SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009)

DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 128 minutes, featurette

VIDEO: 1.85:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO: English 5.1, French 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English, French

STUDIO: Warner Bros. Pictures/ Village Roadshow Pictures/ Silver Pictures

Theatrical RELEASE DATE: 12-25-2009

DVD RELEASE DATE: 3-30-2010

STARRING Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes), Jude Law (Dr. Watson), Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler), Mark Strong (Lord Blackwood), Eddie Marsan (Inspector Lestrade)

WRITTEN by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham (screenplay), Simon Kinberg (screenplay), Lionel Wigram (story)

Based on the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle

DIRECTED by Guy Ritche

ANALYSIS: SHERLOCK HOLMES is a fun mystery action-adventure. Robert Downey Jr. brings out the eccentric nature of Sherlock Holmes while Jude Law makes Watson into the gambling doctor who is sometimes fed up with Sherlock’s eccentricities. The film begins with the capture of Lord Blackwood. He is due to be hanged. He is hanged and his body disappears. Holmes and Watson must find out how Lord Blackwood came back to life and what he has planned for London. To add further complications, Irene Adler is back in town with a case she wants Holmes to take on. Both cases are linked and Irene is working for a mysterious criminal which we will learn more about in the sequel maybe (he is kept in shadows for this film and we learn who he is by the end of the film- just not who is playing him).

Guy Ritchie brings his usual directorial style to the film. It is just that SHERLOCK HOLMES is on a bigger budget than all of the films that Ritchie has done combined. The visual effects create the London of the late 19^th century and it help creates the world that SHERLOCK HOLMES exists in. Even scenes get played in a different way to show what Sherlock Holmes is doing after the fact. I love Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes. He brings the right energy to the character and it gets away from the common deerstalker or Jeremy Brett look. Downey has Holmes in disguise and show how sometimes he can really annoy Watson (in addition to testing things on their dog). I hear Holmes did have fighting skills and you see them in this movie.

I really want to see a sequel because SHERLOCK HOLMES is one of the films I enjoyed the most in 2009. It is extreme fun.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The only extra on the DVD is SHERLCOK HOLMES: REINVENTED- a featurette that has cast and crew explain how this film is closer to the source material in addition a little about the making of this film. Target has a Deluxe Edition which features a small booklet that features the original pitch for the film. The Blu-ray has additional features like In-Pictures commentary and having the DVD as part of a combo pack.

FINAL ANALYSIS: SHERLOCK HOLMES is a fun reinvention of Sherlock Holmes. It plays Holmes and Watson like a buddy cop routine mixed with plenty of action of humor. Add Ritchie's direction and you got magic. I can't wait for the sequel.

This movie review is (c)12-25-2009 David Blackwell and the DVD review (c)4-1-2010 David Blackwell, and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com